It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you (John 16:7, NIV)

Following supper the night before He was to be crucified, Jesus unburdened His heart to His disciples. He knew He was going not only to the cross but, after the resurrection, back to His Father in heaven. His disciples would be like orphans. Had He taught them all they needed to know?

The disciples must have begun to sense His heavy burden. Without Jesus, how could they ever meet their own needs, much less the needs of the multitude? They had given Him their very lives for three years. How could they possibly manage without Him?

Jesus knew their fears. So He began to tell them how they would go on in His absence. He told them they could live, not just somehow, but triumphantly, because “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you . . . I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever” (John 14:18, 16, NIV, emphasis added). Jesus would remain with them, not physically, but in the invisible person of the Holy Spirit.